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Hot Baths Are As Good As Cardio? F*ck Yeah!

I am a sucker for bath bombs, salts, and yummy-scented bubble bath. I love to peruse the skincare aisles and smell things while imagining myself soaking in the tub as my candles flicker next to my glass of wine. Before long, my troubles slip down the drain, and transform me into a relaxed version of myself who can ignore the chaos happening outside the closed door. Oh, and there’s chocolate and a trashy magazine too. Natch.

Problem is, I can never make it seem to happen. Something (or someone) always gets in the way, or I guilt myself out of it, thinking I should really tend to the dishes or laundry. Or most often, I’m just so damn tired that I hurl my exhausted body into bed.

Kind of how we make excuses for working up a daily sweat, right? There’s never enough time, we don’t have the energy, and really, there is always tomorrow to start doing things like hitting the treadmill or taking a much needed soak in the tub. We always seem to think we will wake up the next day and our lives will have magically calmed down, and then we will take time out for self-care.

Of course, it never happens because life can be a dick like that.

If you are like me and tend to find excuse after excuse as to why your collection of scented bubbles is collecting dust in the hallway closet, I have some news that will light a fire under your ass: According to an article in Travel + Leisure, a new study confirms relaxing in a hot bath will burn as many calories as 30-minute walk. That’s right — a soak in the tub is cardio.

Halle-freaking-lujah!

How many times have we wished for something this magical? Burning calories while doing absolutely nothing sounds like the best game in the world, and we all want to play.

Throw on some relaxing jazz and buy yourself an eye mask, and you have a dream Friday night. Can you stand it? This is the kind of multitasking that gets women really fucking hot, literally.

The study was done by a group at Loughborough University, and had 14 men go for a one-hour bike ride, then bathe in a 104-degree-Fahrenheit bath for an hour. While the biking resulted in burning more calories, they did burn quite a few calories lying in the bath doing nothing — about 130 of them, which is about the same amount you can burn taking a half-hour walk.

So pull off your leggings, light that candle, and get that water nice and hot, because this kind of workout doesn’t require clothes, or doing any kind of work besides pouring in some lavender-scented shit because dreams really do come true.

Another interesting note is after tracking the participants for a day after their bath, their peak blood sugar dropped about 10% when a bath was taken in place of the bike ride. Sounds like magic, doesn’t it?

Turns out, passive heating, which is a fairly new medical treatment and very popular in Finland, can be achieved with a bath or a trip to the sauna, and can reduce inflammation.

And the benefits don’t stop there. A nice, long, hot soak has also been known to aid digestion and circulation, help with breathing, and balance hormones.

Now that the word is out that a hot bubble bath can do more than just relax your body and mind, I have a feeling bath pillow purchases and water bills will be on the rise. I mean, if all you have to do is immerse yourself into a hot pool of water, and reap all the good after-effects, why wouldn’t you do it?

No more more excuses, folks, for thinking you can’t treat yourself to a nice soak. Start making it a weekly ritual. Lock the bathroom door and start improving your health and your mind, by not doing a damn thing.